Vancouver 2010 officials have defended the way tickets to next year’s Winter Olympics are sold in the United States in the face of criticism from the US media.
Reports in Seattle, Washington, which is only a few hours’ drive from Vancouver, claimed that tickets were too difficult for the public to buy.
US sales are handled by Jetset Sports, a firm authorised by the US Olympic Committee and a long-time Olympic sponsor.
National Olympic committees are allowed to sell tickets at higher prices to raise money and the Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) pointed out that it has no control over foreign sales programmes.
VANOC executive vice-president Dave Cobb said: “Jetset’s activities in the United States are based entirely on a contract they have entered into with the United States Olympic Committee.”
He added that five times as many tickets had been made available for sale in the United States as had been given to Canada for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
About 50,000 tickets were originally allocated to the United States and that figure has been increased to close to 90,000 as more seating became available.
Cobb said: “We think we have been very fair with what we allocated there.”
